Deadline for stockpiling forbidden pesticides extended until 2009

The Government has prolonged the deadline for disposing of and stockpiling obsolete and forbidden pesticides until 2009. It was also proposed to map locations contaminated by POPs (persistent organic pollutants), Info-Prim Neo reports. The next steps will be to examine pesticide residues in soil samples collected in contaminated areas and to inventory the amounts of pesticides illegally stored or buried. Stocks of pesticides are to be provided with paramilitary guard at the government's expense. In the period from 2003 to 2004, there were repacked and stockpiled 3,011 tonnes of obsolete and forbidden pesticides kept in the warehouses of the former kolkhozes and sovkhozes. 1,295 of hazardous pesticides from Moldova were sent to France for neutralization thanks to the World Bank's project “POP's Stockpiles Management and Destruction”. In 2007 the Ministry of Defense repacked some 350 tonnes of pesticides using money from the National Ecologic Fund (800,000 lei). The Government hopes that the deadline extension for the project as well as amendments to the complementary action plan will contribute to solving this problem.